Sheep in the city?

I love driving around constantly amazed at how advanced and modern this city is, despite what people think about living in the Middle East.  And then I see a herd of sheep crossing the road in my friend's neighborhood.  I had to stop so I could get a picture and of course because I couldn't drive with all the sheep walking in front of my car. 

Tofuuuu

The other day I decided it was time to go vegetarian for a while.  Now, I'm not strict with any of my diets, but I like the idea of going healthy so I didn't know how long I could make it.  I found something on allrecipes.com that gave you a list of ingredients to buy that could make 20 different vegetarian dishes.  I was sold.  I made a copy of the list and headed to my favorite grocery store.  

I like this certain grocery store because it is small enough to find my way around and the produce people are really helpful - they are always standing around waiting to hand you a bag for your veggies and fruits.  They will even let you take one lime out of pre-bagged set of 5 so you don't have to spend $20.  Who knew limes were such a delicacy?  ANYWAY, I was almost done with  my list of vegetarian items except for one thing - tofu.  Now, I know I've never seen tofu in the store before, but I've also never been looking for it.  I started to ask around to all the helpful staff in the store.  

Me:  "Do you have tofu?"

Store Clerk:  "Tofu?  Yes, let me get it for you." 

And then they would walk directly to the cookie/candy aisle.  Interesting.  

I asked three different people for tofu and they all came back with TOFFEE.  Hmm.  Finally, I asked someone who looked like a manager and he was quick to answer.

Manager:  "No, we don't have any Chinese Cheese."

I never thought of it like that, but yeah, I guess it's sort of like Chinese Cheese.  I bought some chicken and left the store.

Our last big trip with my parents was to Petra - one of the 7 Wonders of the World - a city built into rock.  It was built by the Nabateans in the 1st Century and when you see it, it is truly amazing.  The most famous site is the grand Treasury (where Indiana Jones spent some time in The Last Crusade).  But before you reach it, you have to walk through the mile-long siq or canyon.  

The Siq.

The view of the Treasury at the end of the Siq.

A view from one of the High Places.  

The amazing colors of the sandstone.

One of the many homes built into the rock.

It was either an hour-long hike up stone steps and sand, or a quick trip up with our donkey friends, here.  Mom and I chose the donkey route while Daniel toughed out the hike.  

Our hike/donkey ride took us up to this site....the Monastery.  

Daniel still wasn't tired after the hike.  He's tough.

The ampitheater, built in 150-something A.D.  Amazing.  

The Treasury!

Getting a little adventurous...

Too much adventure wears us out - had to ride the camels back up the hill.

More of the Desert

Three of us climbing the red sand dunes.  

Only one of us climbing the rock bridge.  Daniel, not me. 

We stopped the jeep to take in the beautiful sunset. 

Last week we took a few days to tour the rest of the country.  We had a lot to see and not a lot of time so we decided to pack a couple of sites into one day.  Our day started off early with a drive down the Western border along the Dead Sea and through a vast desert to the Southern tip of the country and the Red Sea.    From this point on the Red Sea you can see Israel and Egypt, it is really amazing.  The water is clear with a huge coral reef and this area is known to have some of the best scuba diving and snorkeling in the world.  We didn't have time for diving, we had a schedule to keep.  We stuck our toes in the water, ate lunch, and drove another hour away to Wadi Rum, the desert made famous by Lawrence of Arabia. 

Our transportation through the desert for 3 and a half hours.  Open-air, a little bumpy, but a great way to see all the sights.  

We could've taken this kind of transportation!  It just might have taken a little longer. 

A Bedouin tent in the desert, welcoming tourists with hot tea.

A view out the back of our jeep.  I'm glad we had an experienced driver to get us through all that sand!